The Department of Energy’s decision to issue a sole-source contract for construction of a nuclear cleanup research center in South Carolina to an affiliate of North Wind Group is justified in part because it helps the agency meet its annual obligation to small businesses, according to a recent procurement notice.
The contract for construction of the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, announced earlier this month, is also justified because it keeps the facility on track for completion by fiscal 2024, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) said in its April 14 justification for not doing a full, open competition.
North Wind Group is a branch of Cook Inlet Region, Inc., an Alaska Native corporation certified by the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program to encourage government work with small disadvantaged businesses. The DOE Office of Environmental Management’s small disadvantaged business goal for fiscal 2021, which ends Sept. 30, is 3% of prime contract funding. “For first quarter FY 2021, EM has achieved 0.5% of that goal,” according to the justification.
The award of the $50-million contract to build the nuclear cleanup research center miles from the DOE’s Savannah River National Laboratory at the University of South Carolina-Aiken will go a long way toward meeting that goal, EM said in the justification document.
The Small Business Administration signed off on the award Feb. 2, according to the DOE notice. North Wind Group has done plenty of work around the DOE weapons complex. North Wind is the majority partner in the landlord services agreement for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and does cleanup at the Energy Technology and Engineering Center within the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California.
Texas-based Fluor has signed a deal to use its twice-retired former chief financial officer, Michael Steuert as a consultant, the Department of Energy contractor said in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Steuert is providing advice and consulting services through Dec. 31, 2023, according to the 8-K notice filed March 31. He will be paid $500,000 in stock up front plus $880,000 in additional compensation spread over eight quarterly payments starting in January 2022.
If necessary, Steuert “may also assist the Corporation in any litigation or investigations” for an additional fee of $500 per hour, according to the filing.
Steuert finished his second go-around as chief financial officer last July after rejoining the international engineering and construction company in June 2019 after seven years in retirement.
Fluor has resumed quarterly earnings reports, with the next one scheduled for May 7, after devoting much time in 2020 addressing inquiries by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department about irregularities in some 2019 financial filings.
Steuert worked with Fluor as it set up an internal team to go through its own records. No errors turned up associated with the company’s DOE business, Fluor has said.
Fluor is a major player in the DOE weapons complex, being lead partner on a number of joint ventures including Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, which has a $15.8-billion contract that started in 2008 to manage the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
